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Thursday, July 11, 2013

It was a dark and stormy night.
—A Wrinkle in Time

There’s a fistfight brewing. Actually, more to the point, it’s happening right now in glorious southern Florida. It kind of looks like this fight between Lane Pryce and Peter Campbell. Put up your dukes.

Gulfstream, our Spring Place to Be, started running on July 1st, if for no other reason than to honor our neighbors to the Great White North. It was Canada Day, after all. This, of course, chagrined Calder Race Course.

The Battle for Florida isn’t so much a fistfight as it is a tag team match. Right now Gulfstream and Florida are in the ring with Stronach and Churchill Downs Inc (CDI) sitting in the corners with choke collars snarfing out their voice boxes. Mike Vick might even stay away from these dogs.

Gulfstream might want to watch what they’re doing. They are the big boy in Florida racing for, essentially, one reason: its Kentucky Derby prep races. Gulfstream holds three of a kind in the Holy Bull, Fountain of Youth and the crème de la crème, the Florida Derby.

Sure, heavy is the head that wears the crown, but heavy also is the axe that beheads. CDI appears to have that kind of power. And what would Gulfstream be if it lost its point status in the run up to the Kentucky Derby? A neutered A.P. Indy: Pretty on the outside with little to offer future generations.

Tim Ritvo, president of Gulfstream Park, feels that summer racing at Gulfstream would bring the likes of super trainers to the area.

"This is not about putting another company out of business,” Ritvo said, “but doing what we believe is best for Florida racing. We’ve seen a deterioration in the product during the summer, and think there’s a day when trainers like Dale Romans, Todd Pletcher, and Kiaran McLaughlin will keep a string of horses in Florida all year.”

Great. The rich may get richer in this instance because those cats stable in Kentucky and New York in the summer, the latter two predominantly in New York. What Ritvo is saying isn’t best for “Florida racing.” It’s best for Gulfstream Park.

John Marshall, vice president and general manager of Calder, said, “All Calder did is apply for its regular dates. Gulfstream Park is the one who made the application to run on Calder, and they’re doing it. We felt it was in the best interests of the industry in South Florida to have a consistent circuit for horsemen and bettors.”

Field sizes, predictably, are small. Horses don’t pop out of the ground like potatoes, so what’s a trainer to do? It’s been said horsemen feel torn and imprisoned. If Gulfstream-stabled trainers run at Calder, it could put their winter string in jeopardy.

While these two snap at each other like a couple of cobras, they’d better be careful some horseman don’t leave. There’s a few other tracks—Stronach and CDI-owned—that may take trainers willing to emigrate from the Sunshine State.

The big blow to Gulfstream would be the loss of its point status. That crippled the Illinois Derby, a once-valued Derby prep, which gave us Departed, a wise-guy Preakness horse who tanked in Maryland.

The points system is a great idea in principal, but it seems to loom as a bully in the room. On its surface, it’s there to serve the Derby, to put a better horse in the starting gate, to make the preps more competitive and more compelling. In reality, it appears to be a battle axe that CDI and it’s crowned jewel—the Kentucky Derby—swing without mercy and without reprieve.

Gulfstream may win the battle over summer in Florida, but it may lose the War of the Derby.

I simply don’t get it. The stake races Holy Bull, Fountain of Youth, and Florida Derby take up about 10 minutes of racing in an entire year. The Kentucky Derby a couple of minutes, yet these races get all the attention of turf writers. And, accordingly, people interested in Thoroughbred racing, the novice, and the casual bettor, are drawn to these races ‘cause turf writers write that they are the best racing - to gamble on or to watch?

The fact that well over 93% of all Thoroughbred races involve claiming races, one should think that turf writers would be writing about these races, not a handful of stake races that occur once a year.

Do I care if the monopoly of racing, the Pletcher, Asmussen, and Baffert entourages ship there blue blood horses to Gulfstream? No!

As Thoroughbred racing slides into oblivion, now kept alive by casino dole, I would think, in fact I do think, that turf writers would be more interested in encouraging people to simple gamble on the plodders at the racetrack closest to them.

I believe that turf writers must come to a decision very soon: is Thoroughbred racing a sport of a gambling entity? Should turf writers continue to write about a handful of stake races or promote the very best gambling venue on the planet?

The only novice or casual bettor today, who might be back tomorrow, is the bloke who cashed a winning ticket today.

“Play it again, Sam”: its about gambling, about cashing tickets. “Thanks Sam.”

War for the Derby, between megamillion shortsighted bullies??? What about the Fans??? The soldiers who gamble with their paychecks??? Does CDI and Stronach really care about us???

Let CDI have their new Triple Crown: Kentucky Derby, Calder Derby and Louisiana Derby or Arlington Derby. Let the Stronach group have their new Triple Crown: Florida Derby, Santa Anita Derby and Preakness.

Let the new Triple Crown be born. For horseracing fans who are fed up with CDI and Stronach controlling our game, our TV, our high takeout and our beloved Triple Crown. Call it the American Triple Crown! No CDI or Stronach owned tracks. How about the Illinois Derby, Belmont Stakes and Haskel with the Travers for the Grand Slam? The Tampa Bay Derby, Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby and Blue Grass Stakes could still be the major preps with a point system.

So, who’ll stop the rain????? Only the horseracing fanatics can by boycotting CDI and Stronach tracks. Tough to swallow with the tradition of the Kentucky Derby, but we must draw a line in the sand. Since there is no commissioner for the SPORT of horseracing that can lead the game in the proper direction, we the people who bet with our hard earned cash must take control!

Who is with me? Let the REVIVAL begin! The beat must go on…

Long as I remember the rain been comin’ down
Clouds of mystery pourin’ confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages tryin’ to find the sun.
And I wonder still I wonder who’ll stop the rain.

I went down Virginia seekin’ shelter from the storm
Caught up in the fable I watched the tower grow
Five year plans and new deals wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder still I wonder who’ll stop the rain.

Heard the singers playin’, how we cheered for more.
The crowd had rushed together tryin’ to keep warm.
Still the rain kept pourin’, fallin’ on my ears
And I wonder, still I wonder who’ll stop the rain?????

If CDI were to try and strongarm Stronach by excluding Gulfstream’s preps, no-one should be surprised if the magnetic magnate ran his own $2M 10f race on 2014’s first Saturday in May at Santa Anita that included bonuses for top four finishers that also finished in the top four in the Preakness.

He now has the dates and owns the rights to the name California Derby. The Florida fiasco has already demonstrated his willingness to do so even without provocation, so maybe he’ll do it anyway. He could also offer similar bonuses for existing prep participants as an incentive to run in the new race.

It might just bring more horses to compete in California in the process.

Preach, I actually heard the Fogarty/Bob Segar Who’ll STR duet on the radio coming home today from Big Sandy. Had to crank it up, inspiration! Pretty good day with that Tahoe horse. I think Shug sold his sole to the devil for a Derby win. He can’t find the winners circle since and misfortune with Point Of Entry. Maybe Orb will find his CREEDANCE training at Fairhill for the Travers. Keep fighting the good fight. Time for some beer made from CLEARWATER?

I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain,
Comin’ down on a sunny day?

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